@nessisonett Hopefully you're not suffering too much from Guitar Hero Eye after playing the game so much. It used to be pretty freaky seeing the walls move after spending so long playing the game.
@Thrillho Breaks are good, playing too much at a time really does make you start seeing moving notes in real life, especially since I play on hyperspeed to make the notes more spaced out. Quite disorientating!
I’ve been able to spend some extra time gaming over the holiday weekend (courtesy of King George III 😄) and have finally finished Horizon Forbidden West.
The game was really great. I enjoyed it quite a bit more than Zero Dawn. For me, the story was better, the graphics and presentation were better (I haven’t played the HZD remaster, mind), the gameplay was better, the open world more interesting, and the characters more fleshed out. The only thing now is whether to play Burning Shores now or later. After 100 hours (101 according to my console, to be exact), I think I’m good for now though. The base game still has tons of side quests and exploration that I’ve not done. I barely touched the mini-games like the races, Machine Strike, the Arena, or the hunting grounds. I haven’t done most of the cauldrons, black boxes, rebel camps, drones…. So much stuff I could easily spend another 100 hours in the base game alone. I finished at 78% trophy completion and the platinum doesn’t look too onerous, other than the time for grinding out some of those activities like the hunting grounds and rebel camps. But I’m feeling inclined to end on a high note before I get burned out on it, and then maybe pick up Burning Shores at the next time it’s on sale and play it later.
But I would highly recommend HFW for any fan of open world games, and specifically fans of the first game; it is very closely tied narratively to HZD. It’s a beautiful game, and technically sound. I had some weird bugs occasionally, such as audio clipping out a couple times, not being able to pick up loot on the battlefield on rare occasion, and the little (!) marker popping up over NPCs heads when they actually didn’t have any new dialogue. I got stuck in the environment a few times and had to reboot a prior save once. All these things are not uncommon in huge open world games, but they do stick out when the game is otherwise so technically and graphically exceptional.
Bravo Sony for another great one. Although, I played it from a disc… that I own… and can touch and look at… so yeah… Boo, for not having the option to play part 3 from disc 😛 (Had to throw that in there.)
“We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.”
Guitar Hero Rocks the 80s is down. Incredibly fun game, finally beat Play With Me, seem to have channeled my frustration with Mexico into nailing that solo 😂
@Th3solution
Congrats, unfortunately for me I enjoyed it less than Zero Dawn and found the story to be not as interesting and the combat was overly frustrating (far too aggressive) but hey that definitely seems to be a me problem as most people seem to think the second game was an improvement so perhaps I should revisit it.
Oh and I have both games on disc as well....physical for the win, for the moment at least.
@Th3solutionnice! Glad that you enjoyed it. You had to work for it a bit at the start if memory serves but it sounds like it was all worth it in the end… and to:
The only thing now is whether to play Burning Shores now or later…
Finished Virtue's Last Reward on Vita last night after 30 hours of playtime.
I've already shared extensive thoughts on the game's repetitiveness in another thread, so I won't be going into the details here.
The last five hours of the story was an absolute ride! What an insane plot, I absolutely loved it. This is definitely one of the most brilliant (and convoluted lol) stories I've experienced in a visual novel. There were just so many plot twists throughout the game, but specifically in those last five hours.
Too bad the game's true brilliance was hindered by so much repetitiveness. The story explains this well, but it doesn't really change anything. It's still a de facto repetitive game.
This game also has a fairly straightforward Platinum trophy, as you unlock it by simply unlocking all story paths, which is pretty much necessary to get to the true ending of the game.
Overall, phenomenal game and I'm glad that I kept playing it. The end result was so worth it, I highly recommend paying this game as long as you have the patience for repeating the same stuff over and over again.
@JohnnyShoulder Thanks, the platinum is tempting. I think most of the side content is of good quality, and the character interactions and quest design are interesting. I usually enjoyed the puzzle platforming sections of the ruins, as well as the combat focused activities like the rebel camps. I could do without so much emphasis on using the focus every five minutes to remind myself what elemental weakness the enemy has, or to find handholds and beams to pull. It slows down the flow of whatever activity you’re doing.
I just needed to do one more Machine Strike game and one more race for their respective trophies, but I didn’t enjoy those in the least, so didn’t even take the time to do them since I knew I wasn’t pushing for the platinum anyway. I like that those activities exist on the map for those who want them, but I’m not playing Horizon for those types of mini-games.
@CaptD The story is a matter of taste, and I liked the more straightforward nature of this plot as compared to the first. As for the combat, yes I definitely agree. Stealth and traps were an option but could not be relied on in every encounter. I put the difficulty down to easy after the first 20-30 hours or so. If you do return you might consider that as it helped my enjoyment immensely, because indeed the enemy aggression is ramped up and felt much more difficult. Certain machines could leap across the entire battlefield on top of you in an instant and then leap back out of melee range quickly before Aloy can stand back up. The cycle of getting knocked down and then being unable to retaliate over and over grew very frustrating at times. The combat was very deep but the large number of options led to a lot of switching around of weapons, ammo, valor surges, armor, coils and weaves, and general tactics. This grew frustrating and tiresome also, so lowering the difficulty meant that I could use the same core weapons and abilities without having to constantly juggle menu items as much. There was still some switching required but it wasn’t as critical to keep from dying every few minutes. I came to rely on explosive bombs via the blastsling, which pretty much every enemy was susceptible to and required less accuracy, and had good range too for those enemies that would jump out of melee all the time.
@psmr Yeah, like I mentioned to Capt, putting things down to easy after the opening hours helped. And yes, **** DLC! 😄 But when it’s universally praised, **** it less. 😂
I have decided on the “later” option for it after all. I moved on to the next game and so we’ll see. Playing Saros has hooked me pretty quickly to wanting to focus on that right now. It feels so good, smooth, and responsive after running around as Aloy for a hundred hours. It brings back my thoughts as I’m playing it of “Wow, the Colonel is really going to like this” like I had with Returnal. 😜
“We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.”
@Th3solution Congratulations on wrapping up Horizon: Forbidden West! Do you feel like it was worth the same MSRP as Baldur's Gate 3 being only a third of the playtime? Just kidding. I haven't engaged with that series outside of the first few hours of Zero Dawn, but it surprises me to hear you say you preferred the sequel. I think the common consensus is that the first is preferred, no? It's not an opinion I've heard often anyway, but that doesn't make it any less valid obviously! It almost makes me feel like I should give Forbidden West a shot even if I didn't care so much for the open-world gameplay of the first. If that's improved as you say... a better story could go a long way, since I do like the world of those games conceptually at the very least. It does look stunning in every screenshot you shared in the screenshot thread too!
Proud of you as a fellow completionist that you managed not to burn yourself out with the more reptitive busywork that's now a staple of open-world designs like bandit camps and the like! I guess it helps when it's mostly enjoyable, since you said there's a lot of interesting stuff they do with the side content in this one as well. Not surprised you're opting out of the DLC for now... what' your track record in terms of going back to a game for DLC at a later time? Is this like a ''later'' (probably not) or a ''later'' (yes, I will be back)? I find it interesting your need to see it all and methodically work through a game doesn't extend to DLC, because I know it does for me. Any time there's story DLC, I feel obliged to play it or I will feel I haven't experienced the ''full'' story (as disconnected as a DLC may be).
@Th3solution For Burning Shores there is quite a difficulty leap with the new enemy type. and it isn't "too" long. I think I did the story and side missions in about 10-12 hours.
@Tjuz Ah, you open a whole can of worms when you talk about the value proposition for the cost of a game. I could go on for pages about that. 😂 Suffice it to say that I got more than my money’s worth for both HFW and BG3. Even though I spent 3 times more hours on my BG3 run than on HFW, I bought HFW physically at a discount (I forget exactly what I paid but in the neighborhood if $40 I think) and could easily resell it for probably $15-20 (eBay resellers are asking about $30-35) which means it’s a really great deal for 100 hours of fun for about $20. That said, BG3 for $70 is a steal as well because the replay value is off the charts. And that’s one reason why I don’t mind having bought it digitally. I mean, it didn’t have a physical option when the game launched as that came later in limited supply, but it’s not the kind of game I’d resell due to the immense replayability and it’s a good one to keep in perpetuity. It would be great to have the disc set as a collector for the shelf, but I don’t get into that aspect as much as other people do.
The other side of the value proposition for a game is the time investment worthiness; time is our most valuable commodity. Both games definitely have high value there too. The ability to expand or shrink the playtime for HFW is certainly customizable, and even though I spent 100 hrs on it, I can definitely see where I could have trimmed another 50 hours off of it and still got a good experience from it. I think I struck a nice balance with my playthrough though.
And that’s brings me to the comparisons with HZD. I do think the majority opinion is that the first game is tighter and “better” overall. Most prefer the first games story, actually. So I’m in the minority there. And the sheer size and “bloat” of the second game is what many people criticize. But like I said, that can be modified to fit a preferred playstyle by skipping all the extra side content. I think the actual side quest and little supplementary stories of people in that world are quite good overall, and despite many “fetch quests” and redundancy of the actual quest activities, the stories attached to them are good. I’m not sure if they’re Witcher 3 level good (still need to get to that game) which is apparently the standard for such things, but they’re interesting enough to have kept me wanting to interact with the people in this world. I think deep and well developed side content and peripheral storytelling is one thing that HZD didn’t really do very well, imho. Granted there was a lot less of it, but HZD’s NPC interactions were wooden and forgettable (again, in my opinion. Not stating fact here)
Another grievance with Forbidden West was the character arcs and development, especially for Aloy. Her character has some personality shifts compared to the first game and if you played the opening hours, you can probably see why. It’s an origin story and HFW is a ‘mid trilogy’ arc so for me it made some sense. Still, I can see where people felt a little narrative whiplash from time to time with how Aloy was handled.
Despite all this, I think if you were to ever want to get into the series, then I’d still recommend trying to return to HZD first. Simply put the story of the first game is foundational to the second’s and although you could do a YouTube story summary first, there’s also a lot of gameplay carryover which would be a nice context to have before playing HFW. Fortunately HZD is a much smaller time commitment, probably by about half. You could do a whole lot worse if you are looking for an open world narrative game some day, so keep it in mind.
Regarding my paradoxical relationship with DLC, I do have a strange opinion about DLC. I consider the base game to be the core experience for anything I play and if DLC is that good then it should have been included with the main game. BG3 is a classic example. Outside of some patching and tweaking over the first year or two, the launch version is content complete. So many of the little quests and side activities in BG3 could have easily been carved out to resell as DLC, but they did it the right way, imo. Nevertheless, I know my opinion there is a bit radical and out of touch, and something like Burning Shores is DLC done the right way where it’s of high quality and purely extra and optional to the base experience. Honestly if I’d have bought the complete edition of HFW where the DLC is baked in, then I’d have already played it as part of my playthrough. The sheer fact that I have to make a purchase transaction and a separate download is enough to nudge me to move on. But “later” does mean “50-50 chance which is highly dependent on mood and maybe a random sale” rather than “probably not” or “yes, definitely”. 😅 I know… noncommittal ain’t I?
And for Saros, it is indeed really great and being sucked into it right away is part of why I feel comfortable moving on. I’m enjoying it so far, although I’ve had a rough week and very limited free time so far. Fingers crossed I get a good chunk of playtime this weekend.
“We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.”
@cainhurst94 Thanks for the heads-up. I’m glad to be forewarned about a bump in difficulty so I can be appropriately prepared. The 10-12 hr investment seems like a good timeline for what I’d want from it, if/when I go back.
“We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.”
Good lordy man. The jump scare in that giant puzzle room(With the Spider nest & lava pit) during the first quarter of the game really got me. You see a kettle(item) on the ground, which is near the edge of the floor, which descends downwards into a spider nest. When you reach for the kettle, a massive spider quickly pokes over the edge and right in your face and then quickly scurries back into it's nest...This wouldn't of led to much of a reaction if this were played on a TV, but in VR...Entirely different ball game.
When this game lands it lands, and thankfully the puzzles never get old and the sound design is excellent. yet the Combat is a bit bare bones, the two minecraft sections are more annoyinng than fun, and I was let down by the final boss and ending. Some of the enemy animations are clunky/mechanical and dated, but everything outside of that was enjoyable enough. It truly feels like a 90's adventure puzzle game that's been remastered and VR-ified.
Spider Cage section @20:25 >
One of my favourite areas in the game, was that Wraith prison with the 3 floors towards the final act of the game. You're basically climbing across ropes, while simultaneously freezing these cloaked grim reaper-like enemies that chase you down after being spotted that also kill you in one hit, while you're trying to hold or climb across ropes and shooting these gold plated medalian door lock/switches with your wand. And then having to climb down caged prison cells to find other items. Gets pretty intense!
And don't get me started on that giant spider cage full of massive wolf spiders in the very beginning. If you don't take out the spiders with that cannon, as instructed, and instead decide to unlock the cage once obtaining the key, than the spiders will quickly crawl out and ambush you. Terrifying stuff! They go from being boarderline dosile when caged up, to compeltely rabid once they spot you and they're out.
7/10 overall.
Now back to Subside's Makoa Shelf which has been pretty surrene, beautiful, but equally terrifying. I've 100%'d every area in the main game itself and have unlocked everything there is to unlock. But Makoa(just like the great white shark cage) is giving me a lot of trouble. The Tiger Sharks in Makoa look like mini great whites, and it's really amplifying my talasaphobia. The first one that i spotted, had me doing a 180 as I jet packed my way back to the shallows. XD
Beat Forza Motorsport 4. What an absolute all-timer, really glad I’ve played these in order because it plays great in context to 3, which felt like a first draft for the same design philosophy. Loved the career mode, with you doing a tour of each circuit around the world but choosing a different event each time. These tours get longer as each season goes on, with the final two seasons ending up with practically endurance racing.
Fantastic lineup of cars too, especially with the Porsche expansion. The handling model really lends itself to the cockpit cam, driving the muscle cars from the 50s and 60s were incredibly fun with the shifting weight into corners, was practically like a rollercoaster ride.
Started the original Forza Horizon next and it’s sad coming to the end of the 360 games as I don’t have an Xbox One and emulation of those games is pretty much nowhere as it stands. Think Forza 5, 6 and Horizon 2’s next-gen version are the only ones I’ll miss!
@nessisonett Forza Horizon 5 is available on both PS5 and PC and 6 is available on PC as well. I know 6 was coming to PS at some point but who knows now witn Xbox restructuring. Sadly 3 and 4 have been delisted from all digital storefronts but they were avaible on PC for a bit.
RetiredPush Square Moderator and all around retro gamer.
@Tasuki Yeah, it’s Motorsport 5 and 6 that I’ll miss out on, I got Horizon 4 before it was delisted and honestly I will not feel any remorse for ‘acquiring’ a copy of Horizon 3 for PC given that I literally cannot buy it.
@nessisonett Ah ok my bad, I thought you were talking about Horizon 5 and 6 but I was reading that while also watching the Spain/Belguim game. Yeah it i manged to grab 3 ane 4 right before they are delisted and probably will do the same with 5. FH2 I got lucky and found a physical copy at Gamestop a few years ago but like you said need an Xbox One or a Series to play that one. I dont know if that one had a PC release.
RetiredPush Square Moderator and all around retro gamer.
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